Mekong Media Forum

A conference called the Mekong Media Forum (MMF) will be held in Chiang Mai for journalists and media groups in the Mekong region on Dec.  9-12.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Johanna Son, the regional director of Inter Press Service Asia-Pacific said a media conference focused on the Mekong region is rare among media events held in Asia.

“We can't see the views of Mekong journalists in the international media,” she said. “What we want to provide is a space for journalists to meet and to feel comfortable talking about how things really are in their own countries.

“They will present and discuss the different issues they face daily in the Mekong region,” she said.

Participants will come from Burma, China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam.

Among the issues to be discussed will be how economic integration and openness has shaped the Mekong region, how audiences' taste for news and information are driving changes in the media scene and what changes in press laws and access to information have taken place in nearly two decades of economic integration in the region.

The role of the market and state in the region and how this shapes creative space, the hurdles faced by local photojournalists in reaching regional and international audiences and how women are portrayed in the region's media will also be among issues to be debated.

The conference will include a mix of film showings, photo exhibits, visual presentations, panel discussions, workshops and discussions in talk-show format. There will also be launches of books and DVDs.

Burmese political satirist Harn Lay, whose work appears regularly in The Irrawaddy will be among those launching books at the forum. His latest work is called “Defiant Humor, Volume II.”

A presentation on the 2010 election in Burma will also be made at the conference.

The forum is being organized by the Inter Press Service Asia-Pacific and Probe Media Foundation Inc, two Asia and Southern-based organizations that since 2002 have been running the Imaging Our Mekong media fellowship program for Mekong journalists.

Many Imaging Our Mekong media fellowship program fellows will be taking part in the forum.

The MMF website said that the forum is anchored “on highlighting media voices from within the Mekong region and on looking at changes in the media since the process of economic integration picked up in 1992 in the wake of peace and market reforms.”

The forum organizers encourage all who are involved in media as well as organizations and individuals who follow Mekong issues to attend the forum.